


have you seen my ghost

by just_nat



Series: i was going to live [1]
Category: The Mechanisms (Band)
Genre: Angst, Blood, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, s/o to the mechscord for coming up with the idea, this ones sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-16
Updated: 2020-09-16
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:41:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26501566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/just_nat/pseuds/just_nat
Summary: "Kvasir..." Sigyn says, horrified, but it's not it can't be because Ivy knows that face. It's been millenia since Ivy's seen her and she's changed of course she has but Ivy will always recognize Nastya.ORhey what if Nastya was Kvasir would that be fucked up or what
Relationships: Ivy Alexandria & Marius Von Raum, Ivy Alexandria & Raphaella la Cognizi
Series: i was going to live [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2061657
Comments: 15
Kudos: 56
Collections: Stowaways' Shenanigans





	have you seen my ghost

**Author's Note:**

> wrote the entire thing in like. 9.5 hours. my brain grabbed onto this idea and would not let go

"Give it here." Ivy says, lightly teasing the inspector as they scowl at Marius. 

They hand over the black box a little reluctantly and Ivy allows herself a small smug smile. It wouldn't be hard to clear up the recordings, especially since she knew the basics of the story already. None of them knew the exact details of what went down on the train though, and Ivy was always curious. 

She connects to the black box and lets her eyes close as she combs through the data. Skipping past the parts of the recording that are clear, Ivy finds where it starts to break down. It's easy enough to pull the footage together at first. It's the footage of the engine room where things start to get tricky. Whatever was in there was the heart of everything and it's causing heavy interference. 

Ivy concentrates on the scene of Thor and Sigyn standing in the doorway of the engine room, letting it play out. Where the engine should be, there's a person laying on a silver altar. That isn't the surprising part. The mechanisms had known about yog-sothoth, knew about Odin's real plans for the train. The whole reason Ivy, Raphaella, and Marius were still sitting around in prison was to get access to the full story of the Ratatosk Express. 

"Kvasir..." Sigyn says, horrified, but it's not it can't be because _Ivy knows that face_. It's been millenia since Ivy's seen her and she's changed of course she has but Ivy will always recognize Nastya. 

The story is starting to come together in Ivy's mind and she hates it but she can't look away. There are dozens of tubes and feed lines plugged into Nastya's veins and faintly Ivy feels like she might be sick, flashes of being strapped down in Dr. Carmilla's lab coming to her as she watches. 

Desperately, Ivy starts running calculations, how quickly the nanobots in Nastya's mechanism can replenish the quicksilver in her veins versus the rate it's being pumped out of her into the glyphs and grooves that cover the room. In the recording Thor and Sigyn rush forward to try anything they can think of that might help and Ivy knows how the story ends but she can't help but hope. 

Sigyn runs to Nastya, tearing the tubes out of her body heedless of the quicksilver now gushing everywhere as Thor turns to the controls and frantically pushes buttons and slams levers trying anything he can. 

The sigils warp and change, the humming growing louder and louder but it doesn't _matter_ because Nastya isn't getting up. She isn't getting up even though she's a mechanism and mechanisms always get up again and her story can't end like this. Nastya was Ivy's best friend and she's dying on a floor 80 years in the past and Ivy can't do anything but watch. 

Ivy disconnects from the black box as the chanting begins. She knows the rest of the story and the Inspector will be able to figure it out from the restored footage. Putting on a smile as she gives the black box back to the inspector, Ivy ignores the concerned looks Raphaella and Marius are giving her. 

They'd spent years messing around on midgard before getting arrested, and Ivy had downloaded as much information about the midgardian resistance as she could but Kvasir was only ever mentioned as a low level member. There had never even been any reason for her to suspect Kvasir of being Nastya but that doesn't stop the guilt from settling in. 

The inspector leaves, already staring into the black box and Ivy waits until the door closes behind them to collapse in tears. She's shaking and she knows Marius and Raphaella are confused but she can't stop picturing Nastya laid out on the altar, Nastya's quicksilver gushing, covering the floor, Nastya not getting back up-

"Ivy. Ivy!" Raphaella grips Ivy's shoulders, a worried look on her face. "What did you see?"

She looks up at Raphaella, her vision blurry with tears and only manages to get out a choked "Nastya-" though her sobs. 

"Nastya?" Marius repeats, frowning, "What was she doing on the train?" 

Ivy doesn't have an answer. Nastya must have ended up on midgard somehow, and changed her name when she joined the resistance but that didn't explain how she had ended up on the altar. 

Serious for once, Marius drops his metal hand down to his side as he turns to face Raphaella. His flesh hand rubs comforting circles on Ivy's back as she continues to sob. 

"If Nastya was on the part of the train that landed on midgard it won't be hard to track her down, but we'll have to be fast." Marius says, and Ivy flinches. 

Raphaella nods, her wings fluttering nervously behind her. "If she got lost in the bifrost itself it'll be more difficult but once we get back to Aurora we can use the ships systems to search for her." She squeezes Ivy's shoulder and adds, "Jonny will be thrilled." 

That's what breaks Ivy in the end. She couldn't stand the thought of going back and giving the others hope that Nastya might be out there only for that hope to bleed away as they weren't able to find her. 

Raphaella and Marius are looking at her, concern and hope mixing on their faces and Ivy's sobs double. She doesn't want to be the one to take that hope away from them, doesn't want to say what she knows is true but-

Their mechanisms can only take so much, and even Carmilla never thought to protect them against eldritch gods from beyond reality. That machine, that train, it had taken Nastya's blood, the only thing keeping her alive and there was a _reason_ they weren't sticking around for when things got eldritch. 

"Nastya's gone," Ivy whispers, tears still running down her face. "We won't find her."

"What?"

"She's _gone_. The train, in the engine room there was an altar and glyphs, and Nastya was there and there was some machine with her blood that was powering everything-" Ivy's rambling, she knows and she probably isn't making much sense but she has to say it all at once or she won't be able to say it at all. 

"Ivy, what are you saying." The hope from before is gone from Marius's voice and Ivy can't stand to look at him as she continues. 

"Nastya was at the center of the ritual when yog-sothoth was summoned. We will be able to outrun yog-sothoth in Aurora but..." Raphaella's breath hitches and Ivy stops. 

"There's really nothing we can do?" Raphaella says in disbelief. 

Ivy just shakes her head. 

There's a long moment of silence broken only by Ivy's continued sobs. 

Then, simultaneously, Raphaella and Marius sink to the ground and throw their arms around Ivy. Both of them are crying now too, as Nastya's fate sinks in for all of them. 

They'll have to leave soon. The full force of yog-sothoth will be unleashed on the Yggdrasil system soon, and they need to be gone before that happens. 

For now though, the three mechanisms hold each other and mourn for Nastya, 80 years late. 


End file.
